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S&P 500 component Kroger Co. reported its results for the second quarter. The Kroger Co. is a retail chain operating food and drug stores, multi-department stores, jewelry stores and convenience stores in the United States.

Results: Net income for Kroger Co. rose to $280.8 million (46 cents per share) vs. $262 million (41 cents per share) in the same quarter a year earlier. This marks a rise of 7.2% from the year earlier quarter.

Revenue: Rose 11.5% to $20.91 billion from the year earlier quarter.

Actual vs. Wall St. Expectations: KR reported adjusted net income of 41 cents per share. By that measure, the company fell short of mean estimate of 43 cents per share. Analysts were expecting revenue of $20.53 billion.

Quoting Management: “We are pleased with Kroger’s strong performance this quarter, which we believe is the outcome of our consistent approach to managing the business and executing our Customer 1st strategy,” said David B. Dillon, Kroger’s chairman and chief executive officer. “Our ongoing investments in the four keys – our people, products, prices and the shopping experience – continued to enhance our connection with customers and drive positive identical sales growth.”

Key Stats:

Last quarter marked the fifth straight quarter that the company saw shrinking gross margins as gross margin fell 1.6 percentage points to 20.8% from the year earlier quarter. Over that time, margins have contracted on average one percentage point per quarter on a year-over-year basis.

Revenue has risen the past four quarters. Revenue increased 10.9% to $27.46 billion in the first quarter. The figure rose 7.6% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year from the year earlier and climbed 5.8% in the third quarter of the last fiscal year from the year-ago quarter.

The company fell short of forecasts after beating estimates in the previous two quarters. In the first quarter, it topped the mark by 6 cents, and in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year, it was ahead by 2 cents.